Mystery Solved

Some helpful boaters on the 'Canal World Discussion Forum' solved this one in under two hours. They were full of useful advice about how to replace the fire rope and cracked glass too. Fire Rope?! Yes... It forms a seal between the stove body and door, which helps stop the fumes escaping back into the cabin. Ours is solidified, crusty and seen better days.

It turns out that the red LED switch activates the pump, which circulates hot water through the two rads. The mystery 'radiator cap' with trailing wires is the pump itself. A Bolin pump, apparently. 155 quid. it's so tiny! and silent. not at all what you would expect "a pump" to look like.

thankyou boaters.

Morso Mystery

It had dropped to 3 degrees outside, when i lit the stove. Quickly established that the big red valve controls the heat to the radiators, which made the boat nice and warm inside. The copper pipes that run down the length of the boat all heated up, making one super long heat source. Great. The red LED light above the stove turns on and glows nicely. But i have no idea what it actually does. So i turned it back off.


The radiator cap with wires attached, remains completely mystifying. Absolutely not a clue what it does. So i left it well alone.

Taking on Coal

There was some coal left in the bin. Unusually large potato sized lozenges, which were very light, almost porous. I didn't hold out much hope when I first fired up the stove. But they were great. They caught fire quite fast, provided gratifying heat, and glowed very nicely.

Having to buy kindling was a bit galling.
But it worked brilliantly.

Fire 1 was a big success.

Decided to fill up the bin, and lugged a sack back from the Shell garage. But those were much smaller, denser nuggets, and more egg shaped. They were also very wet, and took an age to get going. It depleted a load of the kindling before they eventually caught. But when they did, they lasted longer than the bigger chunks. Heat for heat it's hard to judge between the two. But for ease of use, the big ones were best.

Fire 2 was also a success. It heated the boat, and was very nice to look at. but it wasn't so economical to run.

Kept sticking my head out of the rear hatch to make sure it wasn't me that was causing the river mist, but everything was fine. Even when the stove was full on inside, what was coming out of the chimney was pretty discreet.

Heating

As well as toasting our toes, this solid fuel stove heats a backboiler, which in turn heats the radiators along the length of the boat. We hope to add a calorifier to the circuit for some free hot water when the stove is on, or the engine is running.

There is no backup diesel heating onboard, which we're grateful for. We may not be quite so happy about that in the depths of winter when it comes round to relighting the fire, or scavenging for kindling. But, Sheena's great-grandfather once wrote a book about how to start a perfect fire. So, for now, we're glad to be free of the additional expense.